The History of Captain America vs. Iron Man (part 3 of 5)

In Captain America #332 (1987), the US government suddenly realized the present Captain America was the same Steve Rogers who had served in World War II. This led to the Captain being summoned before the Commission on Superhuman Activities, who insisted the government owned his shield, codename and costume and if he wanted to remain using those three things, he would willingly return to the government's employ. Cap considered this overnight, then chose to surrender his costume and shield to the Commission and walked away (an outcome the Commission was in no way prepared for). To get around the government's claims to his costumed identity, Steve began calling himself "the Captain" and donned a costume with a different chest symbol and no colour blue. Still, he lacked a shield.

At the same time, Tony Stark had provided refuge for an armored super-villain named Force so that he could evade being killed by his employer Justin Hammer. As part of the deal, Force had to surrender his armor to Stark. While analyzing the armor, Tony was shocked to recognize circuitry which was supposed to be unique to his Iron Man armor. While putting his lawyer to work on the matter, Stark ran an illegal computer tap into Hammer's system and learned Hammer had only recently obtained the plans and begun selling them to criminals to improve their armors. Stark was mortified to think that criminals could be killing people with his technology as he'd deliberately given up weapons dealing on that very principle. Further, Stark's lawyer wouldn't be able to summon Hammer to court for years and all the evidence Stark had was illegal. To control the situation, Stark began hunting down the villains he'd identified in Hammer's data.

Unfortunately, Stark didn't have a complete list - he was missing one person and thought it might be the hero Stingray, who was both an Avengers ally and a U.S. Coast Guard official. When Stingray refused to relinquish his armor, Iron Man knocked him unconscious, then discovered Stingray's suit had none of his technology. Stark had only one option now: he publicly declared Iron Man had gone rogue. Thus, Iron Man would continue the Armor Wars without implicating his other identity. In fact, Stark decided to expand the scope of his mission, targeting S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Mandroid armors as he didn't think he could continue to trust S.H.I.E.L.D. with his technology (pragmatic, considering S.H.I.E.L.D. had earlier attempted a hostile takeover of his company, then tried to confiscate his armors during his alcoholism; S.H.I.E.L.D. would be revealed as almost completely corrupt shortly afterward). But Iron Man's next target was the Vault, the maximum security prison for super-criminals in the US. Policing the Vault were a small army of Guardsmen, whose armors had all been built by Stark.

Re-enter the Captain. Steve asked Tony if he could build him a new shield. Tony agreed and fashioned one from Adamantium, insisting Steve take it for free as it would be good for his company's public relations. Secretly, Tony considered this a bribe as he knew Steve wouldn't approve of his next maneuver. Sure enough, as Tony and his friend James Rhodes were en route to the Vault, they were confronted by Steve in a diner. While Tony still claimed the Armor Wars were being fought by a rogue Iron Man, Steve knew better. Tony briefly called off the assault.

Of course, he couldn't be permanently deterred; using a knock-out gas through the Vault's filters, Tony knocked out most of the guards and began deactivating the Guardsmen armors. The final Guardsman was defended by the Captain himself, who had donned a gas mask. The Guardsman began to asphyxiate within his armor but refused to surrender to Iron Man. When the Captain turned his back to help the Guardsman, Tony took the opportunity to strike the Captain down from behind. As the stunned Captain lay helpless on the floor, watching as Iron Man wrecked the last armor (while removing the Guardsman's helmet so he wouldn't suffocate), the Captain shared a last look at Iron Man:

"No words are spoken; none are needed for both men know that a bond has been borken today... a bond as old as their friendship... as deep as their innermost thoughts. A dear and precious link... that may never be whole again."

Iron Man's actions caused a breakout of super-villains from the Vault, which was a pretty bleak bit of business considering Iron Man had been motivated by a desire to stop criminals - and now had been fighting heroes while enabling criminals! After helping to catch (most) of the escapees, the Captain returned to Stark; needless to say, he returned the shield (the Black Panther provided the Captain's new Vibranium shield). Shortly afterward, the Avengers ejected Iron Man from their membership. The Armor Wars finally ended with Iron Man's seeming death, when in reality Tony had survived and soon built a new Iron Man armor. As before, Tony claimed Iron Man was his employee and bodyguard and that this Iron Man was (obviously) a different person from the (supposedly dead) rogue Iron Man. In reality, Tony had gotten away with everything: he'd defeated his enemies, waged war against S.H.I.E.L.D. and federal law enforcement, knocked the Captain out from behind and even killed one of enemies (Titanium Man) and without any consequences.

Of course, Steve knew the Iron Man who knocked him out was Tony Stark and he seriously doubted Tony had given up being Iron Man since the Armor Wars. In Iron Man #238 (1989). Steve and Tony convened a meeting, but Tony still maintained he wasn't Iron Man. Tony wondered if their disputes would endanger other people when Captain America and Iron Man had to fight side-by-side. "I'm a practical man, Tony," Steve answered. "I like to think I'm a just one as well. If it comes to that, I'll lay my life on the line for Iron Man." Not long afterward, Iron Man rejoined the Avengers, still claiming to be a different person than the previous Iron Man. Most of the Avengers doubted this and constantly wondered at the truth. By deception, Tony had regained his position within the Avengers. Soon, he would abuse it.

Tomorrow! Pulling rank.

The History of Captain America vs. Iron Man (Part 2 of 5)

We can credit Jim Shooter for developing the tense relationship which has come to characterize Captain America & Iron Man's interactions. Through the events of Shooter's "Korvac Saga" story, Captain America is nearly apoplectic about the state of Iron Man's leadership. Most of this tension came from the fact that Iron Man had not seen fit to share his secret identity as Tony Stark with any of the Avengers, Cap included. In Avengers #167 (1978), S.H.I.E.L.D. requests the Avengers' help in investigating a massive space facility (which proves to be the base of the Guardians of the Galaxy). Iron Man is late in arriving to join the team because as Tony Stark, he had been in conference with Nick Fury. Cap is boiling mad with Iron Man's tardiness: "You're sorry you're late? A hundred men might die up there and--" to which Iron Man sharply replies, "Then shut up and get into the ship!" The problem worsens when they reach the station and Cap instinctively assumes command, issuing orders to the others. Iron Man reflects, "It's no secret what Cap thinks of my leadership! I suspect his resentment is growing and getting personal!"

The very next issue, it exploded. The Avengers returned to their headquarters to find it invaded by one Henry Peter Gyrich, their new government liaison. Gyrich proceeded to read the Avengers the riot act for the many violations of government protocol they were guilty of. When Gyrich left, Cap finally unleashed what he'd been stewing upon:

"This team's been a pushover since you became leader! It's your fault... because you're treating your chairmanship like a part-time job! But that's what it is to you, isn't it? You're moonlighting as an Avenger, because you have a full-time job as Tony Stark's personal bodyguard!"

Iron Man began to respond cooly, answering that "all Avengers are guaranteed their personal privacy," to which Cap responded by punching him in his armor-plated face. "You low-life mercenary! Don't the Avengers pay enough for your services?" Now they were both angry, but before a real fight could begin the Scarlet Witch broke it off, shaming Cap by pointing out his own recent poor showings in battle. Cap sulked away.

Now that Shooter had turned up the tension, he almost immediately shut it back down. At the end of the day, Captain America and Iron Man were simply too reasonable to let this bickering continue. In Avengers #170 (1978), Iron Man confronted Cap in the Avengers gym and while Cap worked out, Iron Man confessed his own shortcomings: "I'm aware of my failings! I-I'll try harder, Cap... or, if you think I should, I'll step down! You can take over." Cap noted he'd "seen too many friends die in battle" and Iron Man was about to reveal his dual identity to Cap, but Cap cut him off: "Keep your secrets, Iron Man! You lead.. I'll follow -- that's enough!"

In Iron Man #125 (1979), Tony Stark came to Captain America for hand-to-hand combat training as he needed to go on a secret mission without his Iron Man armor. From Cap's perspective, he was simply helping the Avengers' financial backer, having no idea how much it meant to his fellow Avenger. Some time later in Avengers #216 (1982), Iron Man lost his armor while battling the Molecule Man, thus Cap and Thor both finally learned his identity. This knowledge almost immediately began changing Cap & Iron Man's relationship. In Avengers #224 (1982), Tony began dating the now-divorced Wasp. Wasp wasn't keeping a secret identity, but Tony went several dates without telling her the truth. After seeing them together in the tabloids, Cap confronted Tony, playing on his conscience. Cap noted her ex-husband Hank Pym was an old friend of his and it was unfair to do that to Hank - but likewise unfair for him date a teammate (also, Wasp was now the Avengers leaders) without her knowing it. Tony took the conversation to heart and gave up his secret identity to the Wasp; she immediately broke off the relationship.

Mere months later Tony succumbed to alcoholism and gave the Iron Man armor to James Rhodes. Cap and the Wasp tried to reason with him, but in his state that wasn't possible. He quit the Avengers, quit being Iron Man, quit running his company and soon lost his fortune. And despite all of this, Tony couldn't be reasoned with. In Iron Man #172 (1983), Cap found Tony living in a flophouse and tried to encourage him to return to his company before it was lost to Obadiah Stane, but Tony refused and ran away from both Cap and Rhodes, preferring to live in anonymity.

Eventually, Tony would reclaim his sobreity, reclaim his friends, reclaim his armor, reclaim his fortune and reclaim his company. Although Iron Man usually served on the Avengers' West Coast branch while Cap served in New York, the two remained good friends. That is, for a time.

Tomorrow! Iron Man goes to war!

"Not falling for that. I invented that." More thoughts on Q2: The Return of Quantum & Woody

The 5-issue series Q2: The Return of Quantum & Woody by Priest & Mark Bright has come and gone with very little comment. Perhaps that's to be expected - Valiant Comics have always been in direct competition with the big two super hero publishers, but never with the same "heat" behind their titles. The day may come when characters such as X-O Manowar and Ninjak have name recognition with the man-on-the-street, but that time has not yet arrived.

As you may or may not know, this series came about after the newly-revived Valiant began creating new Quantum & Woody comic books, but without the input of Priest & Bright, the men who had (up until then) been the minds, bodies and blood creating the series. As I noted in my review of issue #1, it's tempting to see Q2's use of a new Quantum & Woody team as an effort by Priest & Bright to tweak Valiant's nose for hiring new creators to reboot their creation. As the series progressed, that "tweaking" became much more pronounced, with Woody at one point lamenting, "A new 'Quantum and Woody,' only with other people? Whose stupid idea was that?!" In that moment, Priest & Bright are essentially speaking for fans such as myself, people who were not interested in Quantum & Woody so much as a piece of corporate intellectual property, but as something personal which sprang from Priest & Bright's souls. It is perhaps also noteworthy that Q2's "new" Quantum & Woody are a pair of Caucasians - just like the creators of the new Valiant series.

At the same time, Q2 refuses to entirely give way to fandom's wish fulfillment. Rather than pick up the series where they left it 14 years earlier, Priest & Bright allowed Quantum & Woody to age in real time, leaving them as middle-aged men. Woody wants to move on with his life, while Quantum remains the dedicated hero, despite having suffered injuries which have left him crippled. There's a scene in the second issue which I'm tempted to psychoanalyze as being telling of Priest's attitude to revisiting the series: Woody is trying to perform his music to a disinterested audience who only want to hear him play his one hit song. Is that how Priest feels? He's been summoned out of a self-inflicted comic book retirement just to play his "hit song" one more time. Even though that "song" was technically left unfinished (the Xanadu of super hero comics!), Priest's plot in Q2 suggests he's not very interested in playing back the same familiar jokes. He remains a writer bursting with ideas he wants to share, but almost perpetually unable to find patrons willing to let him compose his thoughts and find his audience. While Priest & Bright's Quantum & Woody has always featured much to be said about race, here Priest introduces transgender issues, finding potential for both comedy & pathos, just as he did before with race.

As I neared the end of the story - where Eric & Woody are in a race against time yet still unable to cooperate for even a few minutes - I began to get a little misty-eyed. And I truly admire Priest's choice to omit showing the duo "klang" their armbands, a moment which had been built-up to as epic, yet dismissed by Priest with the words, "Doesn't it suck that we didn't show it?" I am not certain what I wanted from Q2: The Return of Quantum & Woody. The greatest hits? A few Vincent Van Goat jokes? No, I think what I wanted most of all was for this comic book to exist. And it does. Priest? Comics still need you.

"Buffer zone! Buffer!!" Q2: The Return of Quantum & Woody #1 review

When the revived Valiant Comics announced they would be bringing back the series Quantum & Woody, but without creators Christopher Priest & Mark Bright, my reaction wavered somewhere between "what's the point?" and "this is disgrace." Creators and their interpretations of characters come and go; sometimes in comics, the character's creator is not the person who develops the definitive version of that character. And yet, Quantum & Woody is a Priest/Bright comic book. You could plug in any talented creators and tell decent stories, but you would be stripping away the particularly unique vision Priest had in the original 1990s series.

It would be easy to see Quantum & Woody as a super hero comedy series, or as a satire of the genre. In part, that's true, but there's a particular style Priest used to tell his stories; his Quantum & Woody seemed to be super heroes in a world which didn't really have a use for them; Quantum in particular was earnest and intelligent about his goal to fight crime, yet the tropes which normally make crime-fighting for super heroes easy, never quite clicked (consider how infrequently the duo actually/successfully fought criminals in the series). Eric & Woody's deep, lengthy bond of mutual loathing made it a perfect companion to Priest & Bright's Power Man & Iron Fist.

Fortunately, Valiant seems willing to do right by Priest & Bright, hence the recent release of Q2: The Return of Quantum & Woody#1, reuniting the creators with their creations in a project which seems to exist in the original Valiant universe, rather than the one where "I can't believe it's not Priest & Bright's Quantum & Woody!" reside. Predictably, Priest has chosen to pick up where he left off - resuming the character's lives in the present, that is (just as an earlier semi-cancellation caused Priest to skip months ahead into the story).

In this future, Eric & Woody have drifted apart somehow and neither one is an active super hero. And yet, there's still a Quantum & Woody out there (in what seems to be a metatextual reference to "Store Brand Quantum & Woody"). Woody goes investigating and winds up waging a war of insults with the new Woody. As before, the story also breaks to visit Eric & Woody's childhood and there's a quick recap of their origin for latecomers. That said, anyone who hasn't read Priest & Bright's Quantum & Woody before would do better to begin with the original stories (collected into trades & digital copies by Valiant) rather than start here; you can follow the story, but you might not get it.

Considering Priest & Bright have been away from comics for awhile, it's astounding to see how easily they slip right back into their roles. I've enjoyed the smooth, round lines in Bright's art for ages, yet he seems better than ever here (perhaps some of the credit belongs to inker Dexter Vines?). And while some authors simply become parodies of themselves with age, Priest seems content to satirize everything (himself included).

Although I would be happy to see Priest & Bright continue to tell Quantum & Woody stories beyond this limited series, frankly I'd be content simply to see Priest & Bright at work somewhere in this medium. These jokers are as good as they've ever been, yet they've created barely any comics in the last decade! Comics industry: go stand in the corner and think about what you've done, then offer them all the money in the bank before they drift away again!